Hey guys I could use some ideas. I'm brainstorming how to make a figure using Windblade as a base and adding some Chromia. Specifically I have some issues I could use help solving. First off is how can I make the new arms on the hybrid have a bigger outward movement? What should I cut on the Chromia arm to give more movement? Currently the outward movement is almost nonexistent. I'm thinking if I cut out the top of the channel that already exists it may accomplish what I want but am unsure and would rather get some opinions before I start hacking away. Next up is the legs. I think I want to replace Windblade's movable leg halves with Chromia's lower legs but I have a hitch. I want to be able to rotate them 180 for transformation (so the knee cap would be pointed backwards in vehicle mode). I'm already planning on chopping off the wheel at the base of the swivel there so that'll be gone. I just really am unsure how to have a strong and usable ability to swivel this piece around. I plan on also using the Chromia head but it is a 'male' head and the body is also 'male'. So I'm considering just hacking out Windblade's socket, amputating Chromia's peg, and super gluing the socket on. I've done similar with Chromedome but am always concerned about the strength of such a tactic. Anyone know of a better tactic? I'm also toying with the idea of taking the very front of the bike and replacing part of the cockpit/nose with it. And I think I'd like to take the 'wings' from the bike and use them as shoulder pads for the new figure (being very careful not to hinder articulation mind you). Problem is these 3 pins are giving me a very hard time to get out. And finally I'm kind of annoyed at the Chromia hands. Holding her own gun is fine but any other 5mm weapon seems to pop out extremely easily. Anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I was considering just using some super glue to thicken her hands like I would for a loose peg but am open to ideas. The end result is intended to be a retry of an original character whose first attempt wasn't as feminine as I'd wanted. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/962821-custom-character-patch-up.html So basically, I could use someone to throw ideas at me. Anyone have any?
Get some one On the boards to see if they can help you with your end result you want using Shapeways.
Think should be in the Creative Boards section really but here goes my 2 cents: 1. Thought about just grafting the lower "C" arms to the upper "W" shoulders? Just pop the lower W arm out at the mushroom swivel and mod the lower C arm into place. To me this seems the easiest possible answer. If not, then cutting away is the only other thing I can think of. 2. Now THIS looks a little hard. All I can think of is just pop out the pin at the knee and swap lower legs. That way to transform all you have to do is just bend the legs back all the way from robot mode to make it look like the pic you got. Though have no idea how you could attach the top wing. Well, without just attaching then to the robot knees at the gaurd so they woulf be in the right spot in alt mode. And just have wing knees in robot. Can't think of anything else. 3. How attached to these parts (heads) are you? A) Could swap necks basicly. Cut out the W neck on the head piece and just cut off the neck on C and glue it in place. That way you KNOW it'll fit until the body. B) Do the reverse in a way and cut off the C neck and carve into the head to make it fit onto the W male neck on the body. or C) See if there is a way to swap the neck/body pieces. Both are on a swivel held in with a pin. Might be able to just pop the pin out. Trim if needed and pop the C male neck into the W body. But you might want to be sure to check if you might have clearance to transform. Changing the neck could make everything not fit properly. 4. No idea. Sorry, not without some crazy modding I think. 5. Just use W hands if you don't mind the look. To me they look a little more "lady like" and holds weapons pretty well. If you want to keep the ball jointed wrists then you my have to cut and attach. All I can think of at the moment. Wish you luck and be sure to post updates!
*strokes imaginary cat* Interesting. Very interesting. Also, what was the name/bio of that character you wanted to make?
I haz solution for lower leg I think might work, it will require glue and possibly epoxy, Edit: Oops I misinterpreted the axis you wanted to flip the shins on, I have thaghts on that but its way more involved Remove the front half of chromias lower leg and graft it on the thruster assembly, it already requires you to swivel it around for transformation, so it is the perfect place to put the shin facade On how you might approach them in the way you mentioned, I see two possible solutions, first one is make a shaft the same size as the double hinge and add a swivel, or a ball joint on one end The second would affect the tail of the plane but is simple as dirt, do not twist the waist during transformation, and fold the legs up at the knee, this will mean the calfs need to be hollowed, or something along those lines, I don't have chromia yet so I'm not sure Removing those pins if they go al the way through should be simple enough, what's the issue? The shoulders, I might try popping the mushroom pegs on the arms to see if they are compatible with the existing shoulders, because if you are going to make new shoulder armor it might be better to use the existing shoulders, otherwise I'd cut a channel in the top, because the only other point of articulation that would help takes the wings with it when it moves On the neck a tactic that I've used in the past, is creating a hole in the bottom of the head and inserting a rubber sleeve, and attaching it if a ball is sticking out, if the cup is in the neck I cut off the ball end and drill a through hole with a countersink and use a collared screw with washers or nuts as spacers if needed then screw it into the hole I drilled in the head, once its all set how I like, I will just sculpt a neck around the exposed screw if it bothered me with some epoxy sculpt And this is all rapid fire brainstorming, so I'm not really posting with the aim of totally solving the problem but as a way to refine my thoughts with outside input, until we have something workable I've got other ideas, and I would post some pics to illustrate what I mean, but I haven't found chromia yet, though I did recently get windblade, I do have some other ideas, and I love brainstorming so ill post more thoughts as they strike me
I wouldn't want to impose plus it would likely be more money that I'd rather try and save. Tired now (Merry Christmas everyone since it's after Midnight by the way) so I'll go more into this later. But preliminary tests with simply swapping the legs are actually encouraging. I'll post a picture or two later but it significantly changes the profile of the jet mode and results in the orientation of the legs I wanted. It's still not super awesome and I'm still thinking of ways to simply replace the front half of Windblade's legs but this might be a decent and simple idea. Two potential issues I have is stuff not being solidly connected in vehicle mode and I'm concerned the heel spurs might be an issue (which weren't going to even be on if I just replace the front bit of original legs). Uh, no? As I said this is for a 2nd attempt at a custom character. Good idea though. She's Patch-Up. Here's her link to the first attempt with bio. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/962821-custom-character-patch-up.html Basically she's a first response paramedic (hence the jet). She's happy and sees the good in everyone. She's also fairly rubbish with guns. Thanks. I am too. Tired still so I'll go over this in detail later. But off the bat I'll say that the reason I'm having trouble with the pins is that they just aren't budging. I always have a hell of a time getting pins out. Also the arms are able to be swapped from either ball joint with ease. The only problem is the loss of outward movement you get. Other than that nothing else is wrong. I just yearn to find a way to enhance her outward movement. Merry Christmas everyone and to all a good night!
Unless you have an arbor press laying around, this tool might help you I usually use a block of soft wood as a bolster and knock the pins out using a hammer and various diameter hardened steel shafts, which I get from dismantling small electric motors, such as those you might find in a battery operated handheld fan
Hm. I'll look at that. Thanks. That's why the words male and female are in quotes. Yes, Chromia is a female character but her head has a protrusion that slots into a receiver on the body. Windblades head has a receiver that the body slots into. A USB cord is a male connection and a USB port is a female connection. A power cord has a male connection and a wall socket is a female connection. Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.
Proposed leg swaps. What do you guys think? I'd obviously cut off the wheel but keep the heel spur; assuming it would fold down enough.
Not to bad, if you incorporated chromias windsheild, it might look similar g1 bumblebees cybertronian mode, can you fold down the feet?
I can't fold the feet down with the wheels attached but it's basically the plan to cut them off. With those gone it is possible they feet with the heel spurs will be able to still fold down but it's also possible they won't fit. I'd say 65% possible of having no trouble. But if I can get them folded down then it makes the legs look like air intakes ala Aramada Starcream I think.
... Huh, I suppose I should have actually gone back and read some of those suggestions like I said I was going to.. Man I'm dumb. Well I made a couple cuts. And the heels can't fold under at all. I R SAD PANDA. I am now toying with the idea of putting something on them to hide the bottom of the feet since the way they fold it would look fine for robot mode. The arms have a pretty significant improvement I feel. I now have a good amount of outward movement while retaining Chromia's wrists and elbows (which is what I liked from them). The front is still just being conceptualized. Originally I was thinking of taking the wings off it and using them as new shoulder bits but I kind of like how it looks on the front of the jet so I don't know.
I really wish I had chromia, I'd take her apart to see if anything can be done about the feet, because from pictures it looks like they are secured using a pin, and if that's the case you could possibly make them fold down by cutting some stuff, but alas I can't say anything with certainty about her Those side sections on the canopy might help to fill out the gap between it and the legs
Have you ever seen the PRID Arcee mold or any of the variants? Chromia is a remold. Her feet are almost identical. Yup, the foot pivots on a pin. I did in fact cut some to allow the foot to move more backwards but the problem is there isn't enough room. To get the front of the foot into a decent looking position it pulls the leg up really high and looks bad. And the heel part has space issues with the upper thigh which hides inside the leg when doing that. So for Christmas I was given some Green Stuff. Never used it before but decided to give it a shot and fill in her arms a bit and use it to secure the new nose to the old. And doing an experiment to see how it would behave in spikey and thinner bits. Basically just playing with it a bit.
